About

BECOMING DANGEROUS: A book about ritual and resistance

£39,380

pledged of £26,000 goal

1,557

backers

BECOMING DANGEROUS is a nonfiction book of deeply personal essays by marginalised people using the intersection of feminism, witchcraft, and resistance to summon power and become fearsome in a world that would prefer them afraid. With contributions from twenty witchy femmes, queer conjurers, and magical rebels, BECOMING DANGEROUS is a book of intelligent and challenging essays that will resonate with anyone who’s ever looked for answers outside the typical places.

The latest book from Fiction & Feeling, a new and independent UK publishing company, the book is edited by me, Katie West, and Jasmine Elliott. From ritualistic skincare routines to gardening; from becoming your own higher power to searching for a legendary Scottish warrior woman; from the fashion magick of brujas to cripple-witch city-magic; from shoreline rituals to psychotherapy—this book is for people who know that now is the time, now is the hour, ours is the magic, ours is the power.

Originally, this book was going to be about the secret and safe spaces women create for themselves and each other. But as I was exploring that idea, I started to notice that so many babes I knew were turning to each other in more ritualised ways. I saw my friends creating private covens on Facebook, casting emoji spells to protect each other, sharing ritualised skincare routines, using tarot readings to make their weekend plans, making offerings to the Goddess, and performing binding spells on their President.

I loved looking at the different ways in which women and LGBTQIA people; people of colour; nonbinary, and gender variant people were all summoning power in a world that prefers them powerless. The world is not a fair and equal place and, for many of us, that makes it a scary place. The culture we live in is built on systems of oppression and a patriarchal imbalance of power. We’re regularly faced with threats to our agency and authority. Those with power are not keen on sharing, and those of us without are left with discovering ways to summon it for ourselves. Discovering power that hasn’t been given to us begrudgingly or allocated sparingly makes us threatening. Power makes us dangerous.

I knew I wanted to make a book about this. I wanted a book for people who needed to discover ways to summon their own power and become dangerous.

Rituals, and magic in general, tend to increase in popularity during times of uncertainty and unrest. So at a time when there are forces at work in the world that threaten our freedoms, rights, and well-being, now is the moment to go dark and fuck shit up. This book collects twenty remarkable, defiant writers doing whatever they need to do to get people to stop fucking with their energy. The essays are personal explorations about how and why rituals of resistance work for them. Our goal is that this 300-page softcover book can help you to summon your own power to resist, survive, and thrive.

This project won’t be possible without your help! Please check out our amazing rewards and pre-order your copy of BECOMING DANGEROUS today. Also! Please share this Kickstarter with the people you know who could do with becoming a bit more powerful, a bit more dangerous.

Contributors for this book write for publications like The Guardian and The Paris Review; websites like Autostraddle, The Hoodwitch, VICE, Broadly, and Nylon; and have published books and journal articles with several different publishers.

Some identify as witches; others identify as writers, musicians, or artists. All of them have developed personal rituals to summon their own power and want to share these personal experiences of resistance and survival with you.

NEW REWARD! A super limited edition illustrated hardcover. This book is printed at a spectacular printing co-op in London. It's going to be the most gorgeous book you've ever put on your shelf. Trust me. It's an art object, and you're going to love it. Only 100 copies available.

Inside:
13 beautiful, full-colour, full-page illustrations created by a group of talented and inspiring artists: Emi Lenox, Corinne Dodenhoff, Vivian Rosas, Lori Field, Tea Cake, Maria Nguyen, Hana Shari, Rita Milone, Ursula Decay, Camila Rosa, Taylor Maudlin, and Kaethe Butcher [artist line-up subject to change]
. The art was made exclusively for this project and was inspired by the essays within. See below for examples of the art!

The cover:Ellen Rogers photograph shot exclusively for this book
mounted inside a stamped frame, black foil title on front and spine
.

The book:
bound in black velvet
, black ribbon book mark
, black end pages with black ink design
, natural recycled paper
, perfect bound with head/tail bands
, encased in a black slipcase with black foil title on the front, and Becoming Dangerous hands with knives on the back
.

A digital version of the book to read on your devices in your preferred format!

The paperback! Get yourself a physical copy of the book! Also comes with a digital copy of the book.

Join the coven and get your own Becoming Dangerous hard enamel pin. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. (The book and pin may be shipped separately.)

Bestselling writer and cartoonist Kate Leth has designed a custom 4"x6" sticker sheet of witchy, ritual-inspired flash exclusively for this Kickstarter. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. (The book and sticker sheet may be shipped separately.)

The first book that Fiction & Feeling released was a collection of true stories about the end of marriage and what happens next written by 16 extremely talented divorced writers including Chip Zdarsky, Ray Fawkes, Janelle Asselin, and more! Get a physical copy of SPLIT along with a physical and digital copy of Becoming Dangerous. (The books may ship separately.)

Queen of the Enamel Pin and Champion of Badass Women Jen Bartel has designed a twin set of custom enamel pins exclusively for this Kickstarter. These gold hard enamel pins (1" and 1.5") are connected with a 4" gold chain. Placed on a backing card created by Jen just for this project, this is a work of art in more ways than one! Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. (The book and pin may be shipped separately.)

Julia Scheele, the amazing illustrator behind Queer: A Graphic History, has created a gorgeous A3 print exclusively for this Kickstarter. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. (The book and print may be shipped separately.)

Get five physical copies of Becoming Dangerous for you and your coven, or skwod, or book club.

Get a digital copy of Fantasian, a novel by contributor Larissa Pham; a digital copy of We Are The Weirdos, a novel by contributor Maranda Elizabeth; get a subscription to The Pussy Parlour, an exclusive email newsletter sent to your inbox once a month packed full of feminist, culture, and witchy writings from Becoming Dangerous contributors like Sim Bajwa, Cara Ellison, J.A. Micheline, Leigh Alexander, and other special guests! This Kickstarter is the only way to get access to this fantastic newsletter. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book.

Contributor Maranda Elizabeth is offering tarot readings via text. Their written readings come complete with photos of the cards for you to keep for reference and journaling prompts. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. [Reward limited to 5]

Contributor and astrologer Jaliessa Sipress will send you a personalized synopsis of where each New and Full Moon fall in your Natal Chart and how this positioning may affect you and your life. This synopsis will then be accompanied by a list of three meditation questions and a crystal suggestion that aligns with the work of that cycle.
Information will be sent via email three days prior to the date of the New or Full Moon phase (ex. information for the Full Moon on March 12th will be sent on March 9th). Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. [Reward limited to 2]

Writer and trans editor for Autostraddle Mey Rude is offering a sensitivity reader consultation. Do you have a story/comic/book with a trans character? Mey will read through your manuscript for issues in representation, internalised bias, or problematic language. An invaluable and necessary service for people writing outside their culture and personal experience! Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. [Reward limited to 1]

You want it all! You deserve it all. Get both the Becoming Dangerous and Jen Bartel enamel pins, the Kate Leth witch flash sticker sheet, the Julia Scheele Teen Witches A3 print, Also comes with a physical and digital copy of Becoming Dangerous. (Items may ship separately.)

Visual artist and the Mistress of Magic, Katelan Foisy, is offering a personalised palm reading that she will render into an original pen and ink illustration for you. It's a beautiful work of art and reading in one. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. [Reward limited to 3, one palm]

Visual artist and the Mistress of Magic, Katelan Foisy, is also offering a personalised physiognomy painting. Physiognomy is face reading, similar to palm reading. You send Katelan a photo of your face (or someone else's!) and she creates an original work of art using watercolours and ink that has insights into the personality and character of the subject. It's a gorgeous portrait and reading in one. Also comes with a physical and digital copy of the book. [Reward limited to 2]

Become a Patron Saint of Becoming Dangerous and have your name in the acknowledgements of the book. Sometimes you just believe in a project so much, you need to see it happen. The Patron Saints of Becoming Dangerous are generous, supportive, and using their own power for good. Helping others summon power of their own is no small thing. Respect.

Ellen Rogers (Artwork is intended only to shows artist's style and is not the final cover for the book)

£27,000 - New Rewards unlocked! If we reach this level, a bunch of new rewards from our contributors will be unlocked. These rewards include consultations with Sam Maggs to ritualise your skincare routine (limited to five); makeup consultations with merritt k(limited to five); 30-minute call sessions with Sophie Saint Thomas to discuss sex and dating advice (limited to five); and a Becoming Dangerous mixtape download featuring new music from Meredith Yayanosand Kim Boekbinder, along with special guests! Also, every single person who pledges will get the Becoming Dangerous Spell Booklet—three rituals created by our contributors who are practicing witches to help you summon your power!

£28,000 - Everyone gets a bookplate with their paperback! If we reach this amount, everyone who supports the book at the £15+ levels is getting a bookplate created especially for this project by Lights. Yeah. You heard me. Lights, the super talented musician, comic book creator, and owner of Stanley, the greatest cat on the internet.

Bookplate by Lights!

£29,000 - Audio version of Becoming Dangerous. If we reach this amount, an audio version of the book will be created for distribution.

£30,0000 - Paperback version of Becoming Dangerous gets an upgrade! If we reach this, the paperback will be upgraded to have gold or silver foil on the cover and French flaps—which are great for keeping your place in a book!

£31,000 - Three new authors will be announced! If we reach this level, we'll be able to add three new contributors to this book. Spread the word and share this campaign so we can get to this level and get more rituals, more power!

One of the driving principles at Fiction & Feeling is that our creators are paid fairly; this accounts for why contributors' compensation is the biggest slice of our funding pie.

Our initial campaign goal covers all printing, design, and editing costs; provides compensation for all of the contributors in the book; and goes toward shipping costs, reward production, and Kickstarter/credit card fees.

Here's the breakdown:

To make sure this project is a success, I'm working with Backerkit to ensure the back-end of this campaign runs as smoothly as possible.

Risks and challenges

Every project comes with risk, and this one is no exception. However, I've done everything I could to mitigate those risks.

I've helped prepare, run, and fulfill several Kickstarters before in my past life as a personal assistant to creatives. I have great support from some Kickstarter superstars (thanks, Hope!), and I've been preparing this Kickstarter for almost a year. I've published books before and the last publication I did was the project I did to learn everything I needed to know to make this project happen. I've made mistakes and now know how to avoid them.

I do not require finished pieces of writing from contributors until the Kickstarter is fully funded and they can be paid for their work. This means it's a possibility that a contributor's situation may change at some point between the beginning of the campaign and the end of it, making it impossible to write their piece. However, we will do our utmost to keep the line-up as advertised, and no matter what, you will be getting a book with twenty authors and they are all going to be incredible.

Despite the best preparations, things can still happen. Printers can be later than they say, shipments can get mixed up or lost, suppliers can be late on delivery. I can't control those things, unfortunately, but I am an excellent communicator and will keep you up to date on issues as they arise and let you know how they're being handled.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £50 or more
About $63

THE RITUALISED SKINCARE ROUTINE

Author Sam Maggs will consult with you over Skype about how to ritualise your skincare routine + Paperback + Digital
[Please note: Sam Maggs is a writer, not an accredited dermatologist. This consultation focuses on the ritualized aspect of skincare, and should be received as such.]

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £50 or more
About $63

THE 30-MINUTE CALL RITUAL

Author and columnist Sophie Saint Thomas is offering five 30-minute call sessions to discuss sex and dating advice. Sophie writes an advice column for GQ.com and once wrote an article for Broadly about casting spells with your orgasms, so you’ll probably want to chat with her + Paperback + Digital

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £55 or more
About $70

THE READER'S RITUAL

A digital copy of Fantasian, a novel by contributor Larissa Pham + A digital copy of We Are The Weirdos, a novel by contributor Maranda Elizabeth + Subscription to The Pussy Parlour, an exclusive email newsletter sent to your inbox once a month (for six months) packed full of feminist, culture, and witchy writings from Becoming Dangerous contributors Sim Bajwa, Cara Ellison, J.A. Micheline, Leigh Alexander, and other special guests + Paperback + Digital

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £1,000 or more
About $1,266

PATRON SAINT OF BECOMING DANGEROUS

You just want to see this book happen and help others to summon their power. You're happy to support the project and have a massive "Thank You" in the acknowledgements. Total power move. Respect. + Paperback + Digital